1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an omni-directional airport taxiway light comprising a housing with a lower casing, with an upper casing mounted to the lower casing, and with an outer lens mounted to an opening of the upper casing, wherein the upper casing provides a substantially flat upper surface and wherein a first sealing is mounted between the lower casing and the upper casing and a second sealing is mounted between the upper casing and the outer lens, comprising a light emitting diode positioned in the housing below the outer lens so that light of the light emitting diode is emitted in the direction of the outer lens, comprising a carrier for the light emitting diode positioned in the housing, and comprising an inner lens located in the housing between the light emitting diode and the outer lens.
2. Description of Relevant Art
An omni-directional airport taxiway light is known which was originally designed for conventional light sources such as halogen lamps. In order to allow a light emitting diode to be used as a light source and to increase the energy efficiency of the omni-directional airport taxiway light it is redesigned so that a carrier for the light emitting diode is integrated in the existing housing of the omni-directional airport taxiway light. In order to position the light emitting diode below an outer lens of the omni-directional airport taxiway light the light emitting diode is mounted to a LED-board in a first step. The LED-board is then mounted to the carrier. An inner lens is allocated to the light emitting diode and positioned between the outer lens of the omni-directional airport taxiway light and the light emitting diode. The inner lens is an annular lens. The carrier for the light emitting diode has a complex, three-dimensional shape as is has to carry the LED-board with the light emitting diode and it has to fit into the existing housing of the omni-directional airport taxiway light which was originally designed for conventional light sources. Moreover, the heat management is unfavorable as heat of the light emitting diode is transferred to the LED-board, the carrier and the housing before it is dissipated.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,189 relates to an omni-directional taxiway light with a housing having an upper casing and a lower casing. A tungsten filament lamp is mounted in the housing and held in position by a lamp holder being bolted to the upper casing. The light being provided by the tungsten filament lamp passes a dichroic filter and a pair of axially symmetric conjugate lenses being positioned in a through hole of the upper casing. A first lens is mounted from below against a shoulder of the upper casing and fixed with epoxy resin in its position. The second lens is inserted from the top into the through hole and resides on a second shoulder facing upwards. A flush retaining ring is bolted from the top to the upper casing to fix the second lens in its position.
FR 2790443 relates to an airport light with an upper casing having elongated slits defining light output channels with a channel axis being inclined against the vertical and the horizontal. Each of these slits receives a prism support holding a prism with a light input face and a light output face, enabling light being coupled into the prisms from below to exit the housing via the respective channel. A LED-array is placed in front of the light input face. The optical axis of the LED-array is aligned with the respective channel axis and perpendicular to the respective light input face. The light output faces of the prism are protected against mechanical loads as exerted e.g. by wheels rolling over the airport light by protrusions of the upper casing and the prism supports.